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Vintage photos of:
Our holdings include hundreds of glass and film negatives/transparencies that we've scanned ourselves; in addition, many other photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs) in the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) They are adjusted, restored and reworked by your webmaster in accordance with his aesthetic sensibilities before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here. All of these images (including "derivative works") are protected by copyright laws of the United States and other jurisdictions and may not be sold, reproduced or otherwise used for commercial purposes without permission.
[REV 25-NOV-2014]
"December 16, 1864. Federal outer line. The War in the West. Gen. Hood before Nashville." Wet plate glass negative by George N. Barnard. View full size.
1864. "Nashville. Railroad yard and depot with locomotives; Tennessee Capitol in the distance. From photographs of the War in the West: Hood before Nashville. Continuing his policy of the offensive at any cost, Gen. John B. Hood brought his reduced army before the defenses of Nashville, where it was overthrown by Gen. George H. Thomas on December 15-16, 1864, in the most complete victory of the war. If the date borne on this photograph is correct, it was taken in the course of the battle." Wet plate glass negative by George N. Barnard. View full size.
"Boy Scout training demonstration, 1912." Washington, D.C. Our fourth look at Scout first aid, this one showing a litter made using two poles and some clothing. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
March 1943. "Amarillo, Texas, general view. Santa Fe R.R. trip." 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the OWI. View full size.
Washington, 1912. "Woodward & Lothrop department store trucks." A detailed look at an early motor truck. Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.
1911. Washington, D.C. "Football. Georgetown University Game." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
1921 or 1922. "People's Drug Store, 7th and K." On the table: a nice assortment of Star vibrators. This is a new version of a photo originally posted Aug. 15, 2007. In what counts as an exciting curatorial development here at Shorpy, the glass negative is now available for this image (a.k.a. "the vibrator photo"), as opposed to the previous version made from the scan of a print. The new version is a lot sharper, and shows more of the store. The caption info also gives the address, which we didn't have last year. National Photo glass negative. View full size.
Circa 1900. "U.S.S. Brooklyn wardroom pantry." Note the holiday decorations. The cruiser Brooklyn, commissioned in 1896, was a flagship in the Spanish-American War. Detroit Publishing Co. glass negative. View full size.
Sydney, Australia 1969. 35mm Kodachrome Transparency taken by Unknown American Soldier on shore leave from Vietnam. Scanned and Restored by Davis Pascal Ayer. View full size.
July 1904. The Trevor family takes a motor tour of France. Apparently they got lost. View full size.
I found this Kodachrome slide in a old slide projector case a few years back. I could tell it was a rear-engine automobile and an older one at that. Upon inspection through a loupe it became obvious that this was the engine compartment of 1948 Tucker, a rare car indeed. I originally thought this picture was taken in a showroom, but the dealer plates on the car are from 1951 and the car appeared to have been driven (there's even some rust if you look carefully). So, I contacted Jay Follis, President of the Tucker Automobile Club of America and sent him the scan. He said, "from looking at the photo and the plate I would guess this car to be number #1048, which was part of a traveling exhibit in the 1950's." That's Tucker #48, there were only 51 cars made. In August of 2008, Tucker #1038 (also in Moss Green) sold for $1,017,500. I have since donated the original slide to the Tucker Historical Collection. View full size.
1916. "Indian Head, Maryland. Navy proving ground. Residence of George Swann, damaged by 16-inch shell that hit another in sandbank, and was deflected over country at 3/4 angle. The shell, where it stopped in dooryard." Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative, Library of Congress. View full size.
Next in National Photo's "old house" series from circa 1918: "Old house, 1st & N Street N.E." National Photo Company Collection glass negative. View full size.
11 a.m. May 9, 1910. St. Louis, Missouri. "Newsies at Skeeter's branch. They were all smoking." Photograph and caption by Lewis Wickes Hine. View full size.
Circa 1915. "Catholic University, Washington. Main building." Which has a certain Gothic majesty in monochrome. National Photo glass negative. View full size.